A few nice Atlases images I found:

Attacus atlas

Image by Chiara Marra

The

Attacus atlas

is the greatest butterfly in the world. She cames from South East Asia. Here I found it in an expo by the italian Antonio Festa: a young man with the passion of butterflies world since he was 4 years. He isn't a normal kind of collector that animal activists will detest: with an autofinancial project, he buys butterflies from State of the Third World of Africa,Asia and South America in some breedings where species in surplus are present and saved. These organizations help biosphere to find a balance and with 1 or 2 dollars, Antonio can buys helps local communities to financial supports. So, it's become a microcredit financing project.

Now, Antonio Festa go around his land, the Irpinia ( South Italy) organizing public expo and schools meeting for children improving an awareness campaign for environment, In addiction he sell also gadget and bijoux about butterflies made by artist of the places where he buys the examples of them.

In this moment, Antonio Festa collects about 1.000 different kind of butteflies - It's a work in progress just at the beginning - he tells me - butterflies in the world are present in 165.000 different tipologies but,however I possess at least one butterfly for each classification.


For add more click on his website: www.lepidoptera.it


NYC - St. Patrick's Cathedral from behind Atlas




Image by wallyg

This massive seven-ton, 15-foot tall cast bronze statue of the colossal Titan Atlas has stood at the 630 Fifth Avenue main entrance frontcourt to Rockefeller Plaza since it was installed in January, 1937. Conceived and designed by Lee Lawrie, and modeled by Rene Chambellan, it depicts the story of Atlas from Greek mythology. The largest sculptural work in Rockefeller Center, it embodies both the Center's mythical and heroic theme as well as its Art Deco style.

Atlas, brother of Prometheus, was a Titan--one of the race of half-god half-man giants who warred against Zeus and the Olympic gods. After their defeat, Atlas was condemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders for his role in the uprising. The world is represented by an armillary spehere with the north-south axis poitning to the North Star. Affixed to one of the sphere's rings are symbols for twelve constellations through which the Sun passes during the year. Laid across his shoulders is a wide, curved beam that displays a frieze of the traditional symbols for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Adjacent to Earth (over Atlas's right forearm) is a small crescent symbolizing the Moon. Atlas is depicted with exaggerated musculature and a stylized body, characteristic of Art Deco style. His face, deeply furrowed, Atlas stands perched atop a simple 9-foot granite pedestal--knees bent, with one leg overhanging, emphasizing the great burden he was made to carry. The warm brown patina not only draws attention, but contrasts against the white limestone of its background buildings. The pedestal is uniquely placed so that its corner faces off against Fifth Avenue to give the illusion of flow and space.

German-born Lee Lawrie was well known as an architectural sculptor. His work can be found at St. Thomas Church and throughout Rockefeller Center: Wisdom, flanked on the left by Light and on the right by Sound at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; Winged Mercury and Heraldic Lions at the British Empire Building; Fleur-de-lis and Seeds of Good Citizenship at La Maison Française; Progress at One Rockefeller Plaza; The Story of Mankind, Saint Francis of Assisi, Swords into Plowshares, Columbia Greeting a Woman, Boatman, Fourteen coats of Arms, and Corncucopia of Plenty at the International building.

Rene Paul Chambellan, an architectural modeler and sculptor, was born in 1893 in West Hoboken. He was one of the foremost practitioners of what was then called the French Modern Style and has subsequently been labeled Zig-Zag Moderne, or Art Deco. His sculpture adorns landmarks like the American Radiator Building, the Chicago Tribune Building, the New York Life Insurance Building, Carew Tower, the Chanin Building, Beekman Tower and the Daily News Building. His other pieces around Rockefeller Center include the decorative drain covers and fountainhead sculptures in the Channel Gardens, the Motifs from the Coats of Arms of the British Isles and Pageant of French History.

**

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church. The cathedral is built of white marble quarried in New York and Massachusetts. The exterior is 120 m (400 feet) long and 53 m (174 feet) wide and seats about 2200. The spires rise 330 feet from street level.

**
Rockefeller Center was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1985. St. Patrick's Cathedral was designated as such in 1966.


In 2007, St. Patrick's Cathedral was ranked #11 on the AIA 150 America's Favorite Architecture list. Rockefeller Center was ranked #56.

Rockefeller Center National Register #87002591
St. Patrick's Cathedral National Register #76001250

Atlas Mountains - cloudy




Image by marfis75

cc creative commons

The Atlas Mountains (Berber: idurar n Watlas, Arabic: جبال الأطلس‎) are a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2,500 km (1,500 miles) through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is the Toubkal mountain, with an elevation of 4,167 metres (13,671 ft) in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert. The population of the Atlas Mountains are mainly Berbers. The terms for 'mountain' in some Berber languages are adrar and adras, believed to be cognate with the toponym.

The mountains are or were home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa (often more like those of Europe) many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. Examples include the Atlas Cedar, the Atlas Bear (Africa's only species of bear, which is now extinct), the Barbary Leopard, the Barbary Macaque, the Atlas mountain viper, the Barbary stag, Barbary Sheep, the Barbary Lion (extinct in the wild), the Atlas mountain Badger, the North African Elephant (extinct), the African Aurochs (extinct), the Northern Bald Ibis, the European Black Pine, the Dippers, the Algerian Oak, and Cuvier's Gazelle. (Wikipedia)

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